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Sharps' Rifle Manufacturing Company.
| Firmenname | Sharps' Rifle Manufacturing Company. |
| Ortssitz | Hartford (Conn.) |
| Art des Unternehmens | Gewehrfabrik |
| Anmerkungen | - |
| Quellenangaben | [Bishop: History of American manufacturers 3 (1868) 413] |
| Zeit |
Ereignis |
| 12.09.1848 |
Christian Sharps, Bürger von New Jersey und wohnhaft in Cincinnati, erhält ein Patent für ein verbessertes Hinterlader-Gewehr. |
| 1851 |
Eintragung mit einem Kapital von $100.000. John C. Palmer aus Connecticut wird zum ersten Präsidenten gewählt. |
| Bezeichnung |
Bauzeit |
Hersteller |
| Dampfmaschine |
um 1868 |
Corliss Steam Engine Company |
| ZEIT | 1868 |
| THEMA | Firmenbeschreibung |
| TEXT | On September 12th, 1848, Mr. Christian Sharps, a native of New Jersey, then residing in Cincinnati, received a patent for an improved Breech Loading Gun, claiming as his invention, "the combination of the sliding breech with the barrel, the breech supporter and the stock, in such a manner as that when the sliding breech is forced down, the breech bore will be so exposed as to enable it to receive a cartridge on a line with the bore, and when the sliding breech is forced up, it will shear off the rear end of the cartridge, so as to expose the powder to the fire communication, and will finally and securely close the breech bore." He also claimed as his invention the combination of the cap-nipple with the sliding breech. This is the first account of what we believe was the first perfectly successful Breech Loading Rifle. The importance of the invention is attested by the fact, that for more than a hundred years the ablest writers on gunnery have asserted that the breech, and not the muzzle, is the proper place in which to deposit the charge; and ever since the origin of Firearms, the attention of ingenious men has been directed to accomplishing the object. Robins, whose work was published in the first half of the last century, and which is acknowledged as a standard, refers to the Breech Loading Rifles of his day, and says, "Somewhat of this kind, though not in the manner now practised, would be of all others the most perfect method for the construction of these sort of barrels." Experience has confirmed the correctness of the opinion of this ancient experimentalist, and established the fact that success in warfare depends more on the character and efficiency of the weapons used than upon the number or courage of the combatants. In one of the Mexican revolutions in 1858, Colonel Suasue, at the head of 1.000 men, armed with Sharps' Carbines, attacked Governor Manero, who was in command of the Government forces, and achieved a most signal victory at San Louis, Mexico, killing upwards of 600 men, taking the city and making prisoners of Governor Manero and three of his colonels, with a slight loss. In the same year, on our western frontier, Colonel Wright's command, armed principally with Breech Loading Carbines, utterly routed, without the loss of a man, a large band of Indians who had previously defeated Colonel Steptoe's forces, who were armed with the old muskets and carbines. In the present Rebellion the efficiency of weapons loading at the breech has been so signally demonstrated as to leave no room for doubt. At Springfield, Mo., the "Fre-mont Body Guard", of 250 men, armed with Colt's Revolvers and Repeating Rifles, firing eighteen shots to the man, routed 1500 rebels, though the latter were acting on the defensive and chose their ground, while the former were crowded into a narrow lane between timber, and subjected to the cross-fire of the enemy. At Yorktown, a single man with a Breech Loading Rifle, kept a 100 pounder gun silent for days. At Fredericksburg, a single company, only partially full, silenced an entire rebel battery across the river, six hundred yards distant. At Pine Bluff. in Arkansas, 550 men, armed with Sharps' Rifles, defeated and actually drove away four thousand under Marmaduke, though the latter had the advantage of being provided with artillery. The preservation of Gen. McClellan's army in his seven days retreat, is said to have been due mainly to a Connecticut regiment, armed with these Rifles, coming forward on a critical occasion; and the wonderful victory at Mission Ridge near Chattanooga, to the fact that a portion of the Federal forces engaged, were armed with Spencer's Breech Loading and Repeating Rifles: "Who," said a prisoner, "could withstand men that kept shooting and never loaded ?" Such is the brief outline of the record that has been made in actual service by Guns loading at the breech. In view of these facts it would be singular indeed if eminent military men, sincerely desirous of promoting the nation's welfare, had not expressed opinions in their favor and recommended their adoption. Major-General Rosecrans has stated (November 13, 1863) that he had no doubt that could such arras of proper construction be substituted at once for those now in use, it would add not less than fifty per cent, to the force or power of the troops now in the field, or, "in other words, we should augment our army one-half by changing the weapons." The Government, he informs us, has already become convinced that breech-loading, revolving-chambered or single-charged arms should be used for Cavalry and other mounted troops, - and adds, "it should, and in my opinion will, ultimately adopt them for infantry." It is certainly most unfortunate for the present executive officers of the government that the resources of the establishments engaged in making these arras are not more than sufficient to supply the Cavalry troops, for it cannot be supposed that the Administration could be guilty of forcibly conscripting men if it were in their power to augment the army "one-half by changing the weapons." The history of the Sharps' Rifle Manufacturing Company is briefly as follows : It was incorporated in 1851, with a capital of $100.000. Mr. John C. Palmer, of Connecticut, was elected the first President of the Company, and has occupied the same position in relation to it ever since, discharging the duties with marked ability. Mr. R. S. Lawrence, of the firm of Robbins & Lawrence, manufacturers of firearms at Windsor, Vt., was invited, soon after its incorporation, to take charge of the mechanical department as Master Armorer - and most of the improvements that have been made in the establishment are the result of his experience and practical skill. The buildings originally erected were small in comparison with their present extent. The main Armory was about 160 feet in length by 60 feet wide, two stories high, with an L containing the Forge Shop, etc. Recently new buildings have been erected, and will soon be filled with machinery and workmen, which will more than double the present resources of the works. The main building is 215 feet long by 45 wide, and four stories high including the basement. The Assembling Room occupies the entire first story, without a partition, and is a most imposing and spacious hall, as may be imagined from the length and width of the building which has been already stated. In the basement is an engine of 250-horse power, made by the Corliss Steam-Engine Company of Providence. It is a horizontal single-cylinder of 26 inches in diameter, having a driving-wheel of 20 feet in diameter, and is intended to propel the machinery of the whole establishment. It will be run as a low-pressure engine in summer, and high-pressure in winter, the exhaust steam in cold weather being used to heat the buildings. The processes and tools employed in the manufacture of a Sharps' Rifle are not essentially different from those in use in other Armories. The Barrels are cut from round steel bars, large enough to finish to the required diameter at the breech, and then tilted, or drawn under heavy trip-hammers, until the required taper is attained. These bars of steel, soon to become barrels, are then bored by upright machines, then turned, and finally rifled. The groove in a Sharps' is similar to that in the Springfield rifle-musket, broad and shallow. Nearly all the work is done by machinery. No part of the rifle or its appendages is made out of the establishment, and many of the tools and machinery in use were also made by the Company under the supervision of Mr. Lawrence. The "drop" for finishing the formation of the forgings are hand-drops, operated by means of hand-belt and pulley. Every thing is formed by dies of steel, so that every piece of forging is a counterpart of another for the same purpose. The rifling machines are remarkable specimens of mechanical finish and accuracy in working. Milling, forming, and compound machines perform operations which seem to require the exercise of the most exact and almost human intelligence. Since it was first invented, improvements have been made upon the original Rifle which obviate all the objections that have ever been alleged against it. One of these objections was the escape of gas at the time of firing. This has been remedied by inserting in the slide which closes the rear end of the barrel, a steel ring, attached to a faceplate around the circumference of a concavity in the centre of which the vent enters. This ring is called a "gas check", as the action of the charge when fired forces it out an imperceptible distance against the rear end of the bouching so as to close the joint and prevent the escape of any portion of the force of the fired charge. In 1859 an improvement was made which obviates the necessity of having a portion of the cartridge exposed, as originally required; and now in loading a Sharps' Rifle the cartridge can be forced into the barrel as far as the chamber will allow it without hazard that the fire of the primer will not reach it. The Sharps' Rifle, as now constructed, is unquestionably one of the most effective of modern weapons. The barrel is of cast-steel, bored from a solid bar, round, not octagon in shape, at the breech, and having a thread cut on the exterior, instead of the interior, as all muzzle-loading pieces have, for the reception of the breech-pin. This Rifle has no breech-pin. The base of the barrel screws into a frame of iron, through which, between the lock and barrel, is a "slot" or mortise running transversely to the line of the barrel from the upper to the underside of the gun. Fitting accurately in and sliding through this slot is a block of steel, one side of which comes squarely against the end of the barrel, thus forming a gas-tight breech-pin. On this sliding block is the nipple on which the hammer strikes. The bottom end of the block is attached by a pivot to the "guard strap" of the trigger, which, being hinged at its forward end, can be depressed by the thumb, thus bringing down the sliding breech and exposing the rear end of the barrel-bore for the reception of the cartridge. This is the grand peculiarity of a Sharps' Rifle. But it has another. It requires no capping, though it has a tube or nipple for the use of caps if preferred. It can be fired fifty times without renewing the primers. These primers are little flat discs of copper, containing, between two thicknesses of the metal, the fulminating paste. They resemble the top of a common percussion cap or minute copper wafers. Back of the nipple, and directly under the hammer, is an aperture closed by a slide, that can be moved by the thumb. Into this aperture, leading to a magazine, is dropped a tube of fifty primers, each entirely detached from the other, so that the clanger of spontaneous explosion, urged against the Maynard or tape primer, is entirely obviated under this plan. Caps may be used, even when the magazine is charged, simply by shutting the slide. In firing. a single primer is thrown under the hammer directly on to the tube by the action of a lever inside the lock, which moves simultaneously with the hammer, and never misses capping the nipple just in time, no matter in what position the piece may be held at the time of firing. For rapidity of firing the Sharps' Rifle is remarkable if not unrivalled. In the testing range at the Works, the piece is frequently loaded and fired twenty-six times per minute. An inexperienced practitioner finds no difficulty in firing and loading from ten to fourteen shots per minute. Its simplicity of construction, freedom from accident, and facility of cleaning, as well as its accuracy and rapidity of firing, have given it a popularity, both as a weapon of warfare and for purposes of sport, that places it among the most successful and remarkable of modern inventions. About 450 men are now employed in these works, and about 30.000 Rifles are produced annually. When the new machinery is in full operation it is probable the production will be doubled. |
| QUELLE | [Bishop: History of American manufacturers 3 (1868) 413] |
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